


Furball

by Dream_En



Series: Bleach Prompts [1]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bromance, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fox Kurosaki Ichigo, Kitsune Kurosaki Ichigo, M/M, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:33:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25413223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dream_En/pseuds/Dream_En
Summary: What if Kisuke meets a fox when he was just a boy in the Rukongai?
Relationships: Kurosaki Ichigo & Urahara Kisuke, Kurosaki Ichigo/Urahara Kisuke
Series: Bleach Prompts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1840612
Comments: 4
Kudos: 322





	Furball

Kisuke Urahara has never felt anything other than pain and misery. Each day living in the Rukongai is like forever torture. With reiatsu like his, no one wanted to risk getting involved with the boy unless they wanted to also be targeted by hollows. Kisuke learns to survive on his own in this cruel world. As each night and day pass by, the once bright hope and happiness in his eyes seem to grow dimmer and dimmer until it eventually is snuffed out.

The boy was used to the bullies and drunkies that pick on him for his high spiritual energy. It attracts danger and they see it necessary that Kisuke is reminded of his burden. Today wasn’t any different. He was curled up in a fetal position in an alleyway as kids older, taller, and stronger than his frail boney body cover him with bruises and break a few ribs. 

However, the outcome was different. Instead of ignoring Kisuke’s cries for help, someone _finally_ came to aid the poor soul. To be exact, _something_ fought back for him. An adult looking fox. It’s fur puffed out defensively and the growl it let out was feral. The boys around Kisuke suddenly stilled their actions and turned to the fox. 

“What are you looking at, mutt?” One of them had the guts to ask at the violent looking animal. It suddenly pounced on him and bite down onto his nose and began to yank at it as he screamed at the others to get the stupid thing off of him.

The fox scratched them whenever they tried to land a hand on it. In the end, all of them scrambled out the alleyway and scurried away like mouses, leaving Kisuke sitting there dumbfounded with the feral fox. When the animal turned around, he almost flinched but those eyes it possessed caused him to stop. 

They were warm honey. It sent a shiver down his spine at how calm his body suddenly relaxed under the gaze but immediately tensed when the fox slowly made its way over to him. Step after step, he can feel the dark aura rolling of it. This animal… was not one to be messed with. Kisuke cringed away trying to put as much space between the fox and him but he had nowhere else to run if it decides it wants another fight. The wall from behind had him. He shut his eyes tightly and looked away from the animal as it stalks closer every second.

Suddenly something wet, warm, and rough brushed against his cheeks causing Kisuke to gasp and open his eyes shocked at what happened. The fox just licked him and is now rubbing the top of his head against his arm as if it wants attention.

Kisuke hesitantly raised his hand and when his skin made contact with the softest thing he has ever felt in his entire life, he almost choked. The animal in front of him was just a violent creature not a moment ago and now it was acting like a cat enjoying the way he scratched the back of its ears. It was just so cute.

After minutes of silence between the two Kisuke finally spoke, “Thank you.” 

..

No one truly knows when or how it began but every soul that has ever met or heard about Kisuke Urahaha, the newly appointed Captain of the 12th division and founder of the Research and Development, was known to be almost always carrying an orange furball in his arms. A fox to be exactly who he nicknamed, Ichi-chan, or more formally known as Ichigo. 

They are literally inseparable. Other Shinigamis that have walked in on them at the bathhouse will tell you they have seen the fox sitting next to the captain as Kisuke rambles about his day and plans. Ichigo only barks back every time it is asked a question as if it understands him. Other Captains have found it an extremely weird yet entertaining sight to find the sandy-blonde conversing with the animal. 

The two don’t seem to mind the attention they both get whenever they are out in the public. Both clinging to each other like a fish needs water. Only a handful have been given the golden opportunity to hold Ichigo. Yoruichi has been seen carrying him around the hallways whenever Kisuke is busy on an important mission or whenever she and the Captain of 12th are going to eat. The Shihouin princess is practically the fox’s mother at this point. Always checking up on the two whenever she can. 

Shunsui and Jushiro likes to snatch Ichigo away sometimes when they have tea or have nothing better to do. He doesn’t seem to mind taking naps with the lazy Captain of the 8th on top of the roof. The senior Captains are quiet but like to coo and awe over Ichigo whenever they get the chance.

Shiba Kaien, Captain Ukitake’s lieutenant had a somewhat hard time getting the fox to finally let the man hold him. He almost lost some fingers and his nose in the process but it was all worth it after two months of being assaulted by the little guy, Ichigo, one day all of a sudden, curls up in a ball on Kaiens lap to take nap. The Shiba household was filled with cheerful whoops of victory that night.

Captain Hirako of the 5th had the fox following him around for a bit before he, in the end, picked up the damn thing and carried Ichigo around.

Captain-Commander Yamamoto doesn’t seem to mind that the fox likes to trot over to him in the middle of captain meetings and sleep at his feet. There is a rumor that he pets Ichigo when no one is looking.

However, even after all these years, the fox still has its mischievous and violent side. Ichigo likes to go crazy and claw the wooden floorboards in the Captain’s meeting room if he is not held. He likes to tear open pillows and couches if he is not held. He also likes to sleep on people’s faces and suffocate them slowly if he is not held. And he likes to stand on top of people’s heads and claw at their scalp if he is not held. 

So basically Ichigo likes being held. 

What he doesn’t like is Shinji’s lieutenant. Aizen has never gotten a chance to interact with him because the fox always hisses violently and puffs up his fur defensively whenever the brunette is close. He even tenses up whenever he hears the man’s name. Only a few people have had a bad feeling about Sosuke Aizen but Ichigo takes it to the very next level. It’s like the very existence of him makes Ichigo act feral. The lieutenant, however, has not shown anything that would be labeled suspicious yet. The entire 5th division _adores_ and praises him for everything he does. From his handwriting to dealing with a mere hollow. They even seem to favor him more than their very own Captain. 

He is a _nice_ and _kind_ guy, but something about him makes Ichigo wanna scratch that _warm_ smile off his face. 

..

A frantic Captain’s meeting was called one night. Eight seated officers were infected by hollows and the evidence given to them points towards Kisuke Urahaha being the one that hollowfied them. The man continues to deny all blame and explained he was trying to help his friends but Central 46 didn’t stop to listen. They didn’t bat an eye at Shunsui and Jushiro when the two senior Captains tried to prove the sandy-blonde’s innocence. There was too much evidence that was stacked against him. Not so long after, the hollowfied Shinigamis, Tessai Tsukabishi, and Urahaha were exiled from Soul Society and was forced to flee to the World of the Living. 

They all were forced to adapt to the human world all by themselves. Kisuke opening a ‘ _candy shop_ ’ with Tessai’s help and the hollowfied Shinigami went into hiding to control their inner demons. 

All of them swearing vengeance against the _true_ man behind their suffering. 

Sosuke Aizen will pay.

..

Years have passed and the only thing Kisuke can find happiness in is with Ichigo. The fox still follows the shop keeper around everywhere. Ichigo just seems to calm down his anxiety whenever he is around. They sleep, eat, walk, and even bathe together to the point where people joke that if Ichigo wasn’t a fox, then the two would be a married couple. Kisuke doesn’t seem to mind the jokes. 

Ichigo is his and he is Ichigo’s. They both and everyone else knows it.

...

Wait. Not in that type of way. Kisuke isn't into beastiality. He meant like a very deep platonic relationship.

..

Gotei 13 have temporarily allied with the Visords to fight against Aizen and his army of strong arrancars. Kisuke fought against the man and managed to secretly slip a Kidou trap inside of another Kidou. All he needs to do now is give it enough time to activate. 

Out of the corner of the shop keeper’s eyes, he can see Ichigo watching them from afar in a sitting position. Those intense honey eyes boring into his entire being as if telling Kisuke to be safe. He smiles at the fox for a moment before returning to fight Aizen and stall time. 

“What makes you think you can defeat a god, Urahaha Kisuke?” The brunette suddenly asks between their traded blows. “The Hogyoku and I are one, _nothing_ can stop me! Not even the Soul King. So what can a mere Shinigami like you could do to me?” 

The ex-captain smirked and his striped hat shadowed his calculating eyes. Good, Aizen suspects nothing, as he expected. “We’ll just have to see, don’t we?” 

They fight for a few more minutes before Aizen finally finds their battle uninteresting and would rather go form the Soul Key than do this. The Hogyoku lashes out at Kisuke and Aizen’s palm forms a huge orb. All sound was sucked out of the air for a moment and everything returns when a huge blast hit the shop keeper square-on. 

He is sent flying back out into a crumbled building and a huge crater forms under him when he lands. Kisuke groans out in pain. His body felt weak and broken, the back of his throat was filling up with blood, and his surrounding is spinning. Shit, he knew he should’ve Bankai before this, now he is too weak to summon Benihime to stitch him back up. 

Kisuke looked up at Aizen who is now smirking down on him like he is the most pathetic thing in the world. Probably true given the situation he is in.

The shop-keeper narrowed his eyes at the man but he knows the Kidou he made, in the end, would still work even if he was killed. The thought of his death made Kisuke frown slightly. 

It would leave Ichigo would have to be by himself for the rest of his life. Well not exactly, he would still have Yoruichi, Tessai, and Shinji who is somewhere in the rubble but still alive, to take care of the trouble-making, attention-seeking, protective, adorable fox. 

Kisuke’s eyes blur with tears as he recalls all the nice times with the little guy. Aizen charges up another attack and any second now, the Kidou will activate. The shop-keeper sighs out a farewell to Ichigo as all sound is from the air is once again stolen. 

_I’m sorry it had to be this way._

Aizen fires the attack and the world is suddenly blinded by a bright light. Kisuke’s eyes widened at the sight in front of him and everything around the man froze. It was literally like time stopped. Ichigo’s body went limp right in front of him, his once beautiful orange fur was now stained with blood. 

He had just taken the attack for the ex-captain.

His dulling honey eyes looked at Aizen as the Kidou is set off and the man screams in pain. Then they go back to Kisuke. He lets out one last pained whimper before shutting his eyes. 

It was quiet on the battlefield at first. Shinigamis that was injured is being pulled out of the rubble and healed by the forth. Everything was quiet.

Until Kisuke’s cries of agony filled the air. “ _Ichigo! No!_ ”

Almost everyone could practically feel the pain rolling off the choked sobs the man spilled out. The man cried and cried as he held the fox’s head to his chest and rocked back and forth. His hurt head, his vision was too blurry to register anything around him, he was bleeding, But Kisuke didn’t care. His heart felt like it was ripped out of his chest. Yoruichi, Tessai, and Shinji slowly made their way to him. 

They won. But not without losing someone very important to them.

..

Kisuke didn’t come out of his lab for 2 entire months until Yoruichi finally dragged him out kicking and screaming. The man looked like he hasn’t slept for weeks and his eyes were red, probably from crying. Of course, no one could truly blame him for grieving over losing someone he had known the longest but it pained their heart to see him looking this broken. 

Yoruichi noticed how skinny the shop keeper looked and made sure Kisuke’s was filled with food before she sat down and talked to the man. When she looked Kisuke in the eyes. 

They were empty. As if he had just lost his life purpose. 

The two of them talked that night for the first time after Ichigo’s death. Kisuke broke down in front of her and started to sob near the very end of it. She hugged him tightly when he choked out the words, “ _I miss him._ _I miss him so much._ ” 

..

Aizen’s war was nothing like the Quincy’s. They were the first beings to ever invade the Soul King’s realm and _defeat_ all the Royal guards. Yhwach was powerful; no one knew if Soul Society would succeed in bringing his army and him down. The Quincies had planned this since way back when Yamamoto defeated Yhwach but failed to kill him. They planned everything. How to steal their Bankai, how to defeat the Head Captain, and how to get to the Soul King's Palace. All while rubbing shit in their faces and showing how much stronger they were than the shinigami. 

They were so close. Kisuke had activated his Bankai a long time ago but it will all be for nothing because Yhwach is already descending up the steps of the Soul Palace. Slowly but surely. Like he wants the whole world to see what he has accomplished.

Even if his Quincy army is defeated, he wouldn’t be. Kisuke narrowed his eyes at the man and before raising his hand, welp, one final fruitless attempt wouldn't hurt.

“ _Hado #88 Hiryu Gekizoku Shinten Raiho._ ”

He fires out a gigantic beam of electricity and spiritual energy, which creates an enormous explosion upon impact. The stairs under Ywach crumble as smoke consumes an enormous amount of the area. When it finally dissipates, it reveals a huge crater with fire all over the place. Kudos to Tessai for teaching him that kido.

However, now Quincy king was nowhere to be seen. Kisuke knew better than to assume he had just destroyed one of the most powerful beings in the universe with a mere Kido. 

Suddenly, slash marks appear all over his body. He crumbled to the floor as Benihime stitched him up but what scared him the most was that he didn’t see the attack coming. Yhwach stood over Kisuke which slightly reminded the man of Aizen. However, this being was not Aizen. He was stronger and ten times more terrifying. Yhwach looked at him like he was nothing but mere dirt.

“You should feel lucky, it’s not every day you get a chance to be cut down by the All-might Yhwach.” The Quincy king smirked. Kisuke almost snorted at the comment but the pain on his back is preventing him from doing anything.

Something at the corner of his eye he sees something orange but ignores it.

It’s been 3 years since Aizen’s war. He has learned to ignore those feelings where he thinks he might’ve seen something but there is never anything there.

“Any last words Shinigami?” 

“Hm… Well, you don’t look a day over 1,000.” Kisuke joked. Yhwach chuckled at him. “You’re a funny one. Rest in peace.” He raised his sword as the Shop Keeper closed his eyes.

This feels familiar. Him lying on the ground, defensless, about to be killed by the big final boss. However, this time, no one will be able to save him. No tricks, no kido, and not even a friend can stop Yhwach's wrath.

Happy memories flood his mind before death. Yoruichi teasing him about stupid things like how much of a hermit he is, Tessai playing with Jinta and Ururu out in front, Shinji’s rants about how shitty his day is but really he couldn’t care less, Hiyori trying to dropkick him in between the legs but fails, Shunsui and Jushiro’s warm smiles, and finally Ichigo’s happy bark. Kisuke smiles sadly at the last one.

It’s been a while since he revisited those memories with the fox. 

Maybe when the shop-keeper gets reincarnated, he will be able to meet Ichigo in another life. Chances are very low but hey, there is at least a chance. 

The killing blow is finally sent down upon Kisuke when he finishes his thoughts.

However, for some reason, he doesn’t feel it. At first, he believed he died but he can still feel Benihime’s presence. She too is confused and demands that Kisuke opens his eyes. When he does, his heart almost stops beating right there and then. There was fire all around him. Like an explosion went off. Fire that was slowly burning away the body of Yhwach who is laying on the ground face down in front of him, bleeding out. 

But that wasn’t what made Kisuke’s heart stop.

Right in front of him with his hands hugging his knees, a male was crouched down staring him right in the eye curiously. He had orange hair that went down to his shoulders and perky fox ears with ribbons and bells attached to him. A loose black and red kimono fell off his shoulders, so big that it practically dragged behind him, a silk red obi tied to make sure it didn’t fall off. Nine orange and white tails rested behind the stranger. 

_A kitsune._

Those eyes almost made Kisuke freeze. They were the warmest honey he has ever seen and he knew exactly who they belonged to. The hopeful feeling rising in his chest and tears he was on the verge of spilling almost made him didn’t want to ask the question, 

“Ichigo?” 

“What’s with the sad look Kisuke? Thought you’d be happy to see me.” Ichigo smirked at him revealing sharp white canines.

Kisuke’s looks at him like he’s seeing a ghost. He just stares. Ichigo waves his hand in front of the man’s shocked face, when he doesn't answer to his name being called, thinking he destroy the poor man’s mind. He even flicks him in the forehead. No answer. 

“Crap, did I break you--” Ichigo was suddenly cut off by with the tightest hug he's ever felt. At first, he was going to demand the man to let go, because he couldn't breath, but when the man just started to full-on sob and rub snot all over his clothes, the kitsune sighed hopelessly and returned the hug. An hidden sad smile tugged on his lips.

“I missed you a lot, hat-and-clogs.” That seemed to make the man ball out harder.

Ichigo’s hug becoming tighter and tighter as he thought about the shop keeper. Years of them have apart left an extremely bad taste in his mouth. The two buried their faces in each other’s shoulder. They just laid like this for a while. Other survivors were getting healed by the remaining 4th division members. All of them were gathering in the palace but the two just lay there without a care in the world. Even when their friends made their way towards them. 

Yoruichi almost let out a gasp when she sees the Ichigo but stayed quiet to not ruin the moment. Kisuke continued to sob into the kitsune’s shoulder and finally calmed down after an hour. The ginger gently placed a hand on Kisuke’s cheek and made him look him the eyes. The shop keeper was almost shocked to see the tears rolling down his cheeks too. Ichigo was smiling brightly at him. 

“Now I can finally say you have the ugliest outfit I have ever seen since I have a voice.” Kisuke Blinked and frowned, “what? I thought I looked handsome.”

“No, you don’t. Don’t lie to your self. The kids that lived down the street thought you were a pedophile for a while and told their parents. Even they are concerned.” 

“Ok, is that seriously the very first thing you have to say to me? About my outfit which _I not changing_ by the way?”

“I said I missed you first! _THEN_ I told you about the clothes. It HAD to be said. Even Tessai told me about it.” Ichigo scowled and Kisuke grumbled under his breath, “I liked it better when you were a small fox that only bit people’s fingers and nose. Not crush ego's with your bratty-ness.”

“Take it or leave it.” The kitsune grinned. 

The shop keeper laughed before burying his face back into Ichigo’s shoulder. This is the happiest he has been in a long time and it feels _so good._ It was like some part of him had stitched itself back together and he felt whole again. 

“Ichigo?” 

“Yeah?”

“Thank you… for coming back to me.” 

“...” Ichigo chuckled, “you’re welcome, Kisuke.”


End file.
